"I can't take this pain any more ... and my friends all have 'compassion fatigue' ..."

"I'm so exhausted, I don't even have the energy to be afraid anymore ..."

"I wonder how long I will be able to keep on working ..."

Our bodies are fragile. Parts of us become injured, and the pain won't go away. Vital systems malfunction, and we face something so immense, it dwarfs and frightens us. I say 'us', because not one of us is exempt.

Our culture sends out a powerful message - that we should be able to live, if not forever, then at least well into our nineties -- remaining youthful, vital, and active. So when serious illness strikes, it can almost feel like a failure on our parts.

Living with serious illness requires everything of us. I am not going to sugarcoat this. But our capacity for fulfilment - to learn what this life has to offer us, and to create the day as we live it - is always there. Therapy can help us tap deep into the resources within ourselves, and the resources around us - both to cope practically, and to grow from our roots up. As high as we can go, as long as we can.